It is well known that tertiary-alkyl ether compounds can be prepared by reacting a primary alcohol with an isoolefin having a double bond on a tertiary carbon atom, such as the catalytic reaction of methanol with isobutene and isopentanes to form methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) when reacting isobutene, and methyl tertiary-amyl ether (MTAE) when reacting isopentene. When ethanol is used i-n lieu of methanol, ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) and ethyl tertiary-amyl ether (ETAE) respectively, are formed.
Interest in the production of tertiary-alkyl ethers, which can be used for high octane blending components for gasoline, comes primarily from increased demand for higher octane gasoline with lower Reid vapor pressure. This demand has been stimulated by government regulations concerning the environment which restrict the use of lead as an octane improver for gasoline.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to convert low octane high Reid vapor pressure hydrocarbons to high octane, low Reid vapor pressure organic compounds.
It is another object of this invention to provide a combination reactor for simultaneously dehydrogenating and hydrogenating a hydrocarbon feed stream containing an isoparaffin having four or five carbon atoms per molecule and a n-olefin having an equal or lesser number of carbon atoms, to a product stream containing an isoolefin and an n-paraffin.
It is a further object of this invention to provide improved method and apparatus for the commercial production of high octane blending components for gasoline.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide commercial processes which allow refiners to increase production of tertiary ethers by converting C.sub.4 or C.sub.5 hydrocarbons to their respective ethers.